Demolition Issue
Criticism of demolition practices in the building sector is growing louder against the backdrop of the current climate, biodiversity and energy crises. In Germany, more than 50,000 buildings are probably demolished every year, with construction and demolition waste accounting for a good 55 percent of the total waste generated. In addition, demolition in inner cities often goes hand in hand with gentrification and displacement effects. Last but not least, (architectural) cultural, historical and identity-forming values are lost.
The topic of demolition will be examined in the context of the research center from a historical perspective and from a contemporary perspective.
1 The history of the Gesamthochschule Kassel (GhK), now the University of Kassel, has been closely interwoven with the demolition issue since its foundation in the 1970s. As part of the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape Planning (ASL) at the University of Kassel, an exhibition and a publication have been created: The focus here is on the history of the Henschel-Werke, whose enormous importance as an armaments factory was the cause of the destruction of Kassel by Allied bombing raids in the Second World War, and the various projects by Professors and students of the GhK who campaigned in the 1970s for the conversion and extensive preservation of the buildings.
https://kobra.uni-kassel.de/items/f8f8acc3-9c65-4694-802b-b2dfa98b4b61
2 Alexander Stumm is the initiator of the demolition moratorium, an open letter to Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz in September 2022 with demands for a temporary demolition freeze, the introduction of a nationwide demolition permit requirement and the development of ecological and social criteria under which demolition should be carried out in exceptional cases.
3 Together with Luise Rellensmann, Alexander Stumm is the editor of the publication Abrissfrage (Demolition Question), published by Jovis Verlag, which uses approaches from architectural history and theory, monument preservation, feminism, activism and art to analyze the ecological, political, socio-economic and cultural consequences of the practice of demolition and new construction based on the fossil logics of modernism. The contributions address the historical development, current networks of actors, gentrification and ideological influences of demolition, but also the anti-demolition movements that have been forming since the 1960s.
4 Alexander Stumm is curator of the exhibition developed from the Abrissfrage project at the German Architecture Center DAZ in Berlin (March-May 2025).
Project leader: Alexander Stumm